They had obtained the image from a group on Facebook called Cold Dead Hands. Want to bet that they’re political centrists?

This was my response:

“There is no reason why a young person should have to pay for college…” – Charlie Rangel

It is important, if we’re to believe that ideas should be argued on their own merit, that we actually argue the words being used to communicate those ideas. The person who created this meme image thinks what the three people pictured have said means “free”. The ideas they expressed, based on what they actually said, don’t mean what he thinks they mean.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A DEFENSE OF THE PICTURED PARTY’S POSITIONS. Except Inigo. We all know where he stands 😀

This comes from something labeling itself an education website. What does it say when such a site posts something showing a lack of basic reading comprehension? Or worse, not a lack, but a purposeful ignoring of?

I could have gone on, but there isn’t any point, is there? If you are changing the argument of those you oppose, then you concede that you can’t beat the original argument.

So a while ago, when I was running my own Kickstarter campaign, I’d pledged to a book based on a vampire named Varney. For those of you who are fans of horror/dark comedy/vampires/literary history/et cetera, this was a cool idea for a book because it resurrected (pardon) a character that predated Bram Stoker’s vision of Dracula and in fact had set down a lot of what we now accept as tropes in vampire stories (e.g. all that stuff people complain about vis-a-vis Twilight [though the shitty story should be their main concern]). He hit his goal and was able to put out an issue worth of material to shop around.

Cut to now and he has not only been picked up by Mark Waid’s Thrillbent (which is a pretty huge deal itself), but they’ve also got Scott Kolins (he’s worked for everyone) taking on the art chores to not only revamp the original pages, but finish out the series as well. They’re running a brand new Kickstarter to help cover print costs and they have some great swag from a ton of comic greats to offer! If you’d like to see a preview, go on over to the Thrillbent website or their new Kickstarter campaign now. You’ll be glad you did. And if you decide to get some of the sweet, sweet perks that are being offered, be sure to mention in their comments section that I sent you (I want them to know they owe me eternally).

A while back, a book called Economix﻿ came out that I found to be a really fun way to educate people about how the economy does or (in the case of the last 30 years) doesn’t work. I highly recommend you pick it up if you are at all interested in the subject (you should be since you are a part of the economy and should have a vested interest in things that affect you).

Well, the creators of the book have drawn up a nifty little follow-up that helps show us how bad the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) really is.

If you don’t have quite enough time to read it, here’s the super-short version:

Remember how NAFTA brought prosperity to all the countries involved instead of seeing jobs shipped elsewhere with no benefit to anyone except the people already at the top? No? Well, this is way worse and we need to stop it.

Might be worthwhile to let your representatives know your opinion on that before it’s too late.

Justin | Uncategorized | 02 23rd, 2014|Comments Off on Two Fellows with Cellos

A few people have been posting up links in the usual places to a pair of cellists that have been doing some mighty fine covers of popular songs using mainly (and sometimes only), you guessed it, cellos. So to start you off, here is their cover of what is probably my favorite song from AC/DC.

I think more of these incidents need to be brought to light, with names named, if for no other reason than to keep the conversation going. I hope that in the course of doing so, we can assess each situation without a jerk of the collective knee and suss out the proper reaction from our community. We could sort the emboldened misogynists/racists/bigots from the merely ignorant/foolish and maybe bring about some change.

I think Scott Lobdell needs to think about his actions/apology, really get at the roots of of why he would act that way and try again with a new understanding. Who knows? Maybe this coming out is already causing him to take a hard look in the mirror. I can hope so.

If you want to check out Mari Naomi’s book, Kiss & Tell, you can browse it here. If you decide to buy it, they would like you to use this service instead of running straight for Amazon.